Fallen Memories
by Cellosrcool2
Summary: A mysterious gap between two worlds opens at just the wrong time. Maximum Ride must find her way home. Just after Fang. Spoiler Alert.
1. Chapter 1

I was relaxing against a shady tree, looking out at the beautiful sky, while taking in the gentle breeze.  
Okay, so I know what you're thinking: Since when does Maximum Ride actually relax? I'm not that bad, okay! What you just read was completely true… well… if you were to replace the word "relaxing" with "sulking" and "beautiful" with "perplexing" or "painful"… and perhaps the word "gentle" with something like "harsh" or… well, you get the idea.  
The absence of Fang was still a fact that just didn't compute, like telling someone that the Earth is flat. So here I was, curled up under a tree not too far from the house, attempting to convince myself that my right-wing-man was really gone.

Twenty years was a long time.

But wait. Did I really have to beg _Fang_ to take me back in twenty years' time? If anything, _he _should be the one begging for _my _forgiveness.  
I got up and paced around the tree, lost in my thoughts. Yep. Denial, anger… next up was depression. But for now, this was all Fangs fault-  
My thoughts were cut off by the unmistakable _whfoot-PA _of a tranquilizer dart as it launched itself into the bark of the tree beside me, just inches from where I stood. Now, perhaps this was just my paranoia acting up again, but something told me the gunman had no intentions of tranquilizing a plant. I figured this would be a good time for a solo U and A. I took a running start with my wings out and tried to gain altitude quickly, as more darts whizzed around me, one of which planted itself in the sole of my shoe. Talk about lucky…  
Obviously, whoever this was wanted me uninjured- or at least alive- if they were using tranquilizer guns. I certainly wasn't about to lead them back to the house if they didn't already have a location. I took this into consideration and made a wide U-turn, as I sent a mental message to Angel, hoping it would reach her. I was practically screaming in my mind, just to be sure. _Angel, intruders- I don't know if they're aware of the house yet, so I'm heading in the opposite direction._ _Warn the others. _I paused as I picked up the distinct sound of real gunfire behind me. _Intentions still unknown._  
With that, I poured on the speed. 300…350…380_-  
_ And that's about when I ran into a brick wall… or at least… that's what it felt like. It had to be… My head throbbing, my mind disoriented, I lost my balance and plummeted through the open air. This definitely wasn't the Voice.  
_ This is it_, I thought, _I'll never see Fang again._ But instead of colliding with the cold, unjust, heartless Earth, I made contact with something sort of soft and membrane-like and rebounded at least 20 feet in the air. I couldn't be sure, since my eyes were squeezed shut, as if to exorcize the pressure in my brain. Then I was going down once again, my wings breaking my fall. I shrieked from the additional pain of snapping bones. Why me?  
A few more thumps and bounces and I was rolling downhill, my body rendered limp and useless by the chaos. _Now_, it was the end. I was sure of it. Actually, death was beginning to look pretty good. But as I was nearing acceptance, a hand suddenly gripped my arm. I was vaguely aware of whistles and shouting, as the hands reeled me in. If there's one thing I hate more than being treated like a lab rat, it's uncertainty. Lying on my back, voices all around me, I cracked my eyes open just a little-  
Just the tiniest peek of light, and something I can't quite describe hit me. Hard.  
I couldn't breathe. I panicked. I couldn't breathe. That was all I knew. Something was squeezing down on my chest, pushing the life out of me, like a snake suffocating a helpless mouse. As I gasped for air, my eyes opened completely (though it made no difference in my clouded vision) and I grabbed for the first fuzzy outline I was able to separate from the taunting mix of colors and lights. Probably trembling and making noises like that of a dying animal, I croaked and gasped and coughed, all the while grasping the blurry person in desperation.  
The pressure wouldn't let up, however. The little vision I had gained control of was fading, the color receding, as it was consumed by inky spots of darkness. Now I couldn't hear. I was deaf. The ruckus faded out as well and now it was... more or less… peaceful. The agony in my head disappeared abruptly and the constriction on my body seemed as though it had never existed.

_ So peaceful_.

I was so tired. All I had left was feeling and even that burden was waning.

_ Am I dying?_

My hands loosened and released whoever was in front of me. Then I lowered my head to the flexible ground and fell into a thick sleep.

**Don't worry, Max isn't dead. There will be more chapters to come. I'm getting chapters 2 and 3 sorted out right now. This is my first fanfic, so please tell me if things get too bizarre or my story isn't accurate... or it's just terrible writing. Thanks to whoever is reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke to a soft glow… someone standing over me… voices…  
"Captain," a feminine voice called (not _the_ Voice, but _a_ voice), "She's awake."  
My vision was still not great, but I was conscious enough to know that I was in a very small, dim room. I panicked. Was I back in the school? No, we took Itex down a long time ago… Plus, I'd heard the word "captain." Portable lab, maybe? "Wails on Sails?" No that was just stupid…  
Before my thoughts wandered too far, I heard footsteps. They were ungraceful, heavy, probably a man's. Before long, an older gentleman- dressed in some sort of crisp uniform and sporting a white beard- burst through the door. In fact, he pushed it with such force that the metal slammed into a cabinet, sending a tray of medical equipment flying. Without a moment's thought, I took the chaos as my opportunity to escape. Leaping off of the cot, I pushed past the woman and ducked quickly and neatly past the man.  
I was in a cramped hallway of sorts, running as fast as I could in an unknown direction, cautious of dead ends and open doors. Every now and then, I had to shimmy past an unsuspecting worker/crewman/scientist/government agent. I traveled down the tunnels at top speed until finally coming across a ladder. Once again, it didn't matter where the ladder lead, as long as it got me out of here.  
As I climbed, I could hear shouting in the distance. That was when I realized that as I had pushed passed all the workers/crewmen/scientists/government agents, they had begun to pursue me. Wonderful.  
The cold metal dug into my hands as I continued my rigorous climb.  
Of course, I was much faster, but hey, for all I knew, there could have been machine guns trained on the doors… or… a moat with ravenous, man-eating sharks… or a cliff … or pikes… or… or… a giant fish?!


	3. FM Update

Hey guys! You might have been wondering if I'm continuing the story. Don't worry, I am, I'm just the worlds biggest procrastinator. I'm working on chapter 3 right now. I promise I'll kick my butt in gear and have the chapter up within the next week.

Thanks to whoever is reading!


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter. It was really hard to work out the dialogue. If you have any suggestions, that would be great, because I'm kind of making this up as I go, so the organization of the plot is really tricky. Also, I hope I got the formatting right this time, though as I'm writing this, I haven't actually published yet, so ya...

* * *

**

Through the fog and smoke and wind, I could see a tail gently rising and falling. The material beneath my feet was plush, but I could hear the grinding of gears, smell exhaust fumes… I could tell we were high up- bird kid intuition! Well, that and the fact that the ground was no where to be seen. It didn't matter though; what were wings for?

I froze. Stupid! I was so stupid! My wings were still out from the crash. I glanced behind my shoulder to discover my two extra limbs clearly exposed. It didn't help that they hurt like hell. At the same time, I saw the group of crewmen climbing out of the manhole, but they didn't seem too surprised by my wings. Everyone on this thing must have seen me fall.

I nearly jumped as someone placed his hand firmly on my shoulder, "Miss, you should get back inside. You're injured, from the looks of it." Everyone around here had a British accent. Perhaps I wasn't in America anymore. What was important was that the man had shown mild interest in my safety, meaning he _probably _wasn't some scientist or corporate big- wig out to get me.

I couldn't possibly fly away without plunging to my death and causing a scene would only make matters worse. So, in order to maintain whatever dignity I might have had left, I shrugged his hand off and stood, desperately avoiding a wince from the tender bruises all over my body. "So," I said, my face stoic and my voice loud and clear, "Where's the highest level of authority around here?"

Ten minutes later, I was sitting right back in the same room as before, but this time with the captain of… whatever this thing was and two of his crewmen. This was going nowhere.

The moment the door was sealed, the game began.

"You know, I'm very surprised." I said casually, lounging on the bed.

"About what?"

"Well, I'm not being handcuffed, chained, or drugged, yet you're locking the door, and are about to interrogate me; am I right?"

"The day I put a traumatized lady in handcuffs will be the day my men have permission to shoot me."

"Oh, how sexist of you. I'm flattered, really. Now, let's cut to the chase: first question!"

"Pardon?"

"I know you have questions, otherwise, we might not all be here, so ask away!"

"What's your name?"

"Maxine Pine," I replied as quickly as possible. It was the first name that came to mind, as I glanced down at the wooden table, noticing the strange swirls that were somehow worked into the wood.

"Where are you from?"

"Buffalo," when quizzical looks appeared on their faces I clarified, "New York… United States…"

"Do you have any parents?"

"No."

"What about siblings?"

"Nope." There was an awkward silence filling the air, now, as if my interrogator had run out of questions. I took the intensity as my opportunity to get some answers myself, "Where am I?"

"_The Leviathan- _it's a ship in the Royal Air Force."

"Hmm...interesting," from America to Britain- or somewhere near there- in under a minute… the bizarre-o-meter had just risen to a three out of five.

"Do you remember how you got here?"

"Now _that_ I can honestly answer no."

"Are you saying you haven't been honest this whole time?" he leaned forward curiously. I noticed that his overall demeanor had altered. Before, the captain was- how do I put this- anxious, maybe. He probably thought I was some silly, helpless little girl who needed a knight in shining armor. Now, I knew he was getting down to business, because he looked at me with not a sympathetic or kind face, but a distrusting one. Perhaps that attitude had been there the entire time and he just never revealed it. I liked that strategy; I had to remember that for future questionings.

"Maybe, maybe not…" I said. Okay, so the more truthful answer would have been _definitely_.

"Hm…" he thought this over for a moment, "Surely you recall at least your ungraceful descent on _the Leviathan,_" it was more of a lure than a statement.

I took a deep breath. It was cramped in here, I hated questions, and at the moment, I didn't have the upper hand here. However, this was serious, and- as much as I hate to admit it- in order to get home, I had to trust someone.

Baby steps, baby steps.

"Back home- in Buffalo-," I began, uneasily, "I was resting under a tree, when I heard gunfire-," I tweaked the story a tad, "lately, there's been a lot of violence in my neighborhood-" yeah, no kiddin', "so I got up and ran. Then… it felt sort of like hitting a wall… and I just couldn't move; and then I was falling. I landed on my wings and-

"Wait a second… not once have you asked about my wings. You'd think that would be the first question asked, but not with you, so what's the deal?" I said, suddenly taking the role as the inquirer. Now, that same entertaining nervousness appeared in the Captain's expressions.

"Miss, I-" he began.

"Don't you 'miss' me!" I interrupted, my voice rising "I see exactly what you're doing! You want names and locations so you can take us one by one. I should have known it was you with the guns! Now, you're trying to get on my side, make me lead you right to where they are. I can see right through you!"

The captain stood, "Listen, young lady- if you can even be remotely classified as a lady- we are simply trying to help and in order to do so, we need some cooperation."

I suppose he thought his tone would intimidate me, but it had quite the opposite effect. I was all fired up. With my craziest, firmest, coldest voice, I stood at the same height as the captain, and calmly said, "The fact you three are still standing is evidence of my cooperation, because this is about its extent."


	5. Chapter 4

Being held captive on an "airship" isn't so bad if they let you go outside. Even though there were no dog crates, sharp knives, or antiseptic -that I could tell of, anyway- the cramped corridors and tight spaces were just too much for me to handle. It wasn't like I was going to fly away, not with my useless wings.

The Lady Boffin, as Dylan was accustomed to calling her, had insisted I climb to the exterior of the Leviathan to "fill my lungs with fresh air." I would have been relieved by her concern for my lungs and their fresh air intake had it not been for the fact that no one on this ship completely trusted me. I mean, in addition to being too stubborn for my own good, I certainly had a strange arrival (I doubt most of the crewmen got on the Leviathan by falling no telling how many feet from the sky), and of course I have a few extra limbs than normal.

The hitchhiking mechanics had more merits than I did, for Pete's sake! So why would Dr. Nora Barlow- with her coy smile and poised disposition- be tolerable, if not kind, to me? There was no doubt she had an agenda and given her title of "Doctor" it wasn't had to figure out.

"Something troubling you Miss Pine?" Barlow asked, her voice like that of a snake's, if snakes had voices.

"Just taking in the view," I was inwardly startled by my natural response. I hadn't had to think for even a split second _Who's Miss Pine?_ While my flock used different names when necessary, most of the aliases I'd taken on throughout the years had the first name of Max. I guess I was just used to responding to anything.

"You really should try to have more mercy on these men, Maxine,"

"What do you mean by that," I turned my head towards Barlow.

"Your clothing choice is awfully sparse. I think you make some of these buffoons uneasy."

"Well they can get over themselves. My clothes are just fine."

"They're also filthy. You have been quite stubborn during your week's stay on the _Leviathan_," hm…making my situation sound like a choice; another sign that she was bad news.

"I'll keep my clothes for now, thank you."

"Are you sure? The human body has plenty of pores for oils and sweat to seep through. It won't be long before you –quite frankly- begin to smell rank."

"I'll take my chances." I looked away, but I could still feel Dr. Barlow's eyes on me, her presence creeping up my spine, studying me.

"So," in that moment, I was faced with two options. The first was to ask her what she wanted to know. That was the direct route that screamed anxiety, the one I was all but famous for. The second would be to mirror the enemy's coolness. _It's time to beat her at her own game._

"You seem fairly young, Dr. Barlow," "Have husband, boyfriend, children…?"

"I'm afraid not. My work has kept my hands quite full."

"You're a scientist, right?" I leaned against the railing of the lofty observation deck.

"Yes," she replied simple, avoiding further explanation. That seemed strange for her.

In the silence- though I wouldn't quite call it silence, what with all the humming of engines and squawking of critters- I ran back through the short conversation in my mind, combing through the tones and responses to see if I could spot anything fishier than the flesh beneath my feet. It then occurred to me that the only reason the sophisticated and astute Dr. Barlow would ever give an answer without elaboration would be a deep train of thought. That wasn't good. I should have known she was the kind of person given the frustrating ability to pick up hints and facts and clues everywhere she went, followed by the analysis and organization she needed to manipulate people. But it wasn't too late. All I had to do was break her train of thought-

"Sudden comprehension leads me to be open, Ms. Pine," she said. Too late.

Me, being me, I had to maintain my cynical attitude, "What a nice change of pace."

"First of all, I would like to point out that despite the rumors passing through the _Leviathan's_ crew like the common cold, reason tells me that you are not an angel that fell from the heavens," Barlow said, her change in tone symbolizing her amusement in the crew's naïve hypotheses, which were flattering, of course. I mean, I'm definitely no angel, but I could use this assumption to my advantage.

"Genetic experimentation and recombination is, of course, illegal," she added, "so it is likely that you have come from a underground laboratory somewhere in the United States- perhaps escaping, judging by your rather rough landing.


End file.
